vernal

[prettygoodword]

Theme week! -- seasonal adjectives, starting with:


vernal (VUR-nl) - adj., related to or occurring in spring; having characteristics like spring, such as fresh, young, youthful.


This is rare outside of technical contexts, such as the upcoming vernal equinox, but I still see it sometimes in that extended metaphorical use. Taken around 1530 from Latin vērnālis, pertaining to spring, from vēr, season of spring (ultimately from PIE root *wósr̥/*wesr̥, spring (and how's that for a diacritic on that r̥?)) + a pertaining-to adjectival suffix. And to console those of you who just observed the North American vernal time-shift, here's some vernal sakura to gaze upon:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

---L.

Comments

Another archetypally vernal image.

[full_metal_ox]

(Image description: GIF of a small fluffy white lamb on a green grassy hill in full daylight, pawing insistently at a reclining human in a brown sweater, mostly out of frame save for his right arm; the human reaches over and pets the lamb’s head. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s50vvwTystA)

Re: Another archetypally vernal image.

[prettygoodword]

Bah.